Charles' relationships
Throughout his life, Charles has built up relationships with other people that are rather complex for a D.I.T. character. His closest ones are with his half-brother, Val Quintana, Luke Norris, Rose Johannson, and his half brother. |-| Family= To a certain extent, Charles cared for his family members and respected them. However, he was quite different in temperament from the rest of his family, which impacted his relationships with them (not unlike Valiera Nelson and Zira Miranda Grover). Leah Compared to his stepfather, Charles' relationship with his biological mother, Leah, is relatively mellow, but he claimed that neither of them understood him. He considers her "painfully overprotective, overly forceful" and he considers his upbringing to be "remarkably sheltered". This implies that their relationship may have been more mellow when Charles attended elementary school, before he realized what was really going on in the solar system. He also claimed that she had never understood him, but convinced herself otherwise. It is known that she did not approve of his feelings for Valiera Nelson or Luke Norris, considering them to be extremely insecure and selfish and "way too alike", angering Charles. Nevertheless, she did notably approve of his inviting Rose Johannson to his house, who she later said was kind and beautiful. She also took them to the Winter Dance, but when she discovered Rose had used drugs before, she drove Charles' opinion of her to boiling point by placing a restraining order on her, as well as Carl Alex and Ann Mex. She also did not want Adam Whitman over until she had met his parents. Charles also claimed that he suffered the indignity of being subject to her over-the-top rules and had the "great pleasure" of finally defying her overprotectiveness, showing callous, but understandable disrespect for the woman who had attempted to ensure his life was so unfulfilling. Phee Charles' relationship with his stepfather, Phee, is universally negative, as he considers him to be extremely narcissistic and lazy. Compared to his mother, Charles' relationship with Phee is relatively mellow, but he claimed that neither of them understood him. It is known that he did not approve of his feelings for Valiera Nelson or Luke Norris, considering them to be extremely insecure and selfish and "way too alike", angering Charles. Nevertheless, he did notably approve of his inviting Rose Johannson to his house. He also took them to the school dance and bought him a flower to give to Johannson. However, when he discovered Rose had used drugs before, he drove Charles' opinion of him to boiling point by placing a restraining order on her, as well as Carl Alex and Ann Mex. He also did not want Adam Whitman over until he had met his parents. Charles and his father had a falling-out when he joked about his weight and he took it personally and was unaware Charles was being funny. Charles also claimed that he suffered the indignity of being subject to his narcissism and had the "great pleasure" of finally defying his self-righteousness, showing callous, but understandable disrespect for the man who had attempted to ensure his life was so unfulfilling. Nicholas Phee Initially, Charles had a love-hate relationship with his stepbrother, Nicholas Phee, though he secretly respected him. He was alarmed when he learned that Nick had inadvertently become close friends with the brother of Valiera Nelson. The two have plenty of typical sibling rivalry in their history; Nick continually calls Charles a "psychopath" and Charles continually calls him an "idiot", and Nick makes fun of Charles by showing off his own prodigious athleticism and Charles makes fun of him by joking about his girlfriend Allie (though Nicholas made jabs at Valiera, who he unjustifiably hated, constantly). However, as they have both admitted, this is merely the way they operate (not unlike Zachary Brown). Nicholas also refuses to be in any of Charles' Instagram posts. In recent months, however, their relationship has become far more strained, as Nicholas Phee has more consistently attempted to hurt Charles' pride deliberately, and make cruel jokes about Valiera Nelson, causing Charles to lose his empathy for Nicholas entirely upon accepting this wasn't just a phase. In addition, Nicholas began ignoring him, insulting him and his friends without provocation, giving his holographic girlfriend dirty looks, and threatening him. He even said Charles was as skilled as a second grader at wielding swords, in spite of his actions at GT-2 Base and Masculine Quarters. Charles was aware that Nicholas hated himself, which only fueled his annoyance at his younger stepbrother's antics. Unidentified half brother Charles also cares for his younger half brother on his mother's side, though he also finds him annoying, but they are both very annoyed by each other. He told Rose Johannson he considered his half brother to be very childlike. Both of them used to be more defensive of each other and spend much more time together, but when Charles confronted him for blatantly displaying "conditional love", his half brother claimed to hate his guts, to which Charles casually replied that he already reciprocated. |-| Romantic relations= Valiera Nelson , Charles' high school crush.]] Charles' relationship with Valiera Nelson was extremely rocky, and at several occasions was not what it seemed. Charles first discovered her existence as far back as 2007, where he had a strange dream about her, in which he heard a mysterious voice calling out to him, the speaker being identified as the most beautiful woman in the universe, "spiritually and emotionally shredded by torment, but still more powerful in terms of intellect, strong will, and beauty the likes of which the universe has yet to see". The woman turned around and told Charles she loved him back, even though he did not recall saying that outright. Charles knew the dream meant the mysterious, almost ethereal being was his future lover, not knowing if it would be months, years, or even decades before they met. When Charles finally met her five years later, he had no idea that she was the girl he had seen so long ago, and he tried awkwardly to get on her good side. This was because Vincent Organa had promised that he could help him find the girl in his vision, and he believed Valiera could lead him to it. However, Vincent's goals were nefarious, as he wanted to use her as a weapon. Charles' initial attempts to gain her favor were unsuccessful, as Valiera only treated him with a sense of neutral respect. Charles initially judged her rather harshly, thinking she was unusual, spending a long time in (admittedly blissful) ignorance of just about everything except the mission and what he projected onto her. Nevertheless, he still believed they were almost entirely alike, which Valiera inadvertently supports by making the accusation that he automatically agrees with every word she says. As a result, he began to feel guilty for obeying Vincent's request. On several occasions, he tried to strike up a conversation with her in class, only to be threatened or else ignored entirely. They were separated after the school administrators enforced on them a No-Contact Contract, but Charles assumed Valiera had planned this ahead of time and punched her in the backside — something he would deeply regret doing and something she would rigorously begrudge him for in the future. However, their final interaction prior to her departure showed that she disliked him but wouldn't show it. He began to warm up to her even more after he learned she was dating Blaise Parton and did everything in his power to protect her from her own mentally unstable boyfriend, whom she eventually dumped. When she left for Vurian Academy, and Charles began dating Luke Norris, he spent most of March thinking he was glad to be rid of her where nothing in the School War could hurt her. However, he had a vision in April and he saw the same girl from 2007 in his Health class, destroying the room with tendrils of Dark energy and wrapping him in a bear hug. After that, he was devastated and even became slightly suicidal, and his feelings for Luke and Valiera both deepened and became more complex. As he learned more about her, he became more aware of the kind of person he was really fraternizing with, and came to regret trying to hurt her, until he considered punching her in the spine as the largest mistake of his life. Also, Charles became jealous (but he tried to conceal it) when Valiera began dating one Miranda Patrick and groping her frequently, whom she had used to move on from Blaise Parton, so Charles had indirectly caused them to be together. The two did not meet again until August, where Luke Norris mentioned Charles and Charles learned of it. He had realized his past mistakes, in trying to use her for Vincent's sake and trying to harass her, and apologized sincerely and thoroughly. Her reaction to them was vicious, but from what Charles had deduced at this point, he found her to be much easier to understand as a person. The two kept their distance at school, Charles because he thought she needed space and Valiera because she wanted to, but in November, Valiera's fury towards Charles reached an all-time high and she threatened to hurt him if he came anywhere near her or Miranda or Will Ostler. After this, Charles considered all hopes of redemption lost and spitefully reported her for smoking underage. However, his spirits rose when he saw her in December, at which point he told Luke they had a lot of the same friends. In an extremely Machiavellian act, he unblocked Carl solely because he thought Valiera might know if he didn't, even though Rose desperately did not want him to and his mother had told him not to. Val was also one of the people he made a Christmas gift for, as he was well aware of her love of Goldfish. His parents' attempts to separate them (coupled with several other factors) turned Charles against his entire family. Eventually, Val Quintana realized how much Charles had matured, when he finally confessed that he was extremely unjustified in pursuing her. Eventually, Charles began hanging out with her constantly, albeit usually on hologram, as she had moved to Salt Lake City with her new boyfriend Phillip and Charles remained in Provo to complete his education. They hung out at a swimming pool in May of 2013. They also flew together during the Battle at the Cave of the Gargoyle. Charles is shown to be extremely protective of her and a somewhat possessive boyfriend. Due to everything they have been through, it is extremely understandable why Charles was so protective and possessive of his significant other. Ironically, Charles and Nelson share an alarming amount of similarities that Charles is aware of and Nelson is not. Both students are extremely morally ambiguous, making it impossible to tell whose side they're on, if either, they are both somewhat supportive of the aims of the Girl-Team and the Armies of Organa, respectively, they have complex fighting styles and limited knowledge of piloting that served them well in 2016. They both bear absolutely no interest in sports (perhaps one of their biggest differences from Luke Norris), they love the cyber world (though not as much as Summer Petersen), where he is somewhat interested in vaping, she does it. Where he has shown interest in sexually “experimenting” with another student, and yet has never engaged in anything more explicit than sensuality with Luke, she has possibly “experimented” with Blaise and possibly Miranda as well (though the books never specifically said that). Both of them are extremely bi-curious, almost to an unhealthy extent. Both of them have trouble trusting people, especially the opposite gender, a trait they share with a superhero named Baby Intelligence. Despite having both claimed to utterly hate the opposite gender, this has been proven untrue several times, especially by their interactions with Blaise Parton and Rose Johannson. Even their personal taste is alike, they have mysterious and ambiguous relationships, do not talk about themselves much, and do not truly make new friends at Tower Placement, apart from being members of separate posses. Both of them also find Preston Rumsworth annoying and enjoy heavy metal and rap. Both of them are addicted to crackers (though Ritz and Goldfish, respectively). They both like going to and eating candy. They are small fans of franchises and . They are also fond of Insane Clown Posse and Marilyn Manson (only Charles probably likes Manson slightly more than ICP and Valiera is probably vice versa). Both of them love photography. And of course, they share an exceptional intellect. One notable factor they share is their horrible relationships with their cruel mothers, both of whom have tried to break them apart from the loves of their lives (Miranda Patrick and Valiera herself, but also Luke). Charles' relationship with his mother Leah is universally negative, as is Valiera's relationship with Lauren Nelson. Both of them have unamimously agreed that their mothers are "bitches" and they "hate mothers' guts". They both felt misunderstood by their mothers, but it is very likely that both Leah and Lauren convinced themselves otherwise. It is known that neither of their parents approved of their feelings for their significant others (Luke Norris and Miranda Patrick), angering them and further turning them against their mothers. They both loved their homosexual lover far more than either of their parents. Both of them eventually had what Charles believed and Valiera presumably believed to be the "great pleasure" of finally defying Leah and Lauren's over-protectiveness, showing callous, but understandable disrespect for the women who had attempted to ensure their lives were so unfulfilling. Additionally, both of them are considered the "disappointment" of their family, which they do not appear to be remotely ashamed of. This is understandable, since every single Nelson or member of Charles' family in canon is far more self-righteous and unambitious than they are (they are actually very calculating, independent, ambitious, complex, and driven by friends more than family, making them the complete opposite of their mothers most of all). But the difference is that Leah is overprotective while Lauren is under-protective. It is also worth noting that Valiera loves her stepfather (Dave) while Charles thinks his is just as bad as Leah. They do, however, share a few gleaming differences: Nelson holds strong grudges, whereas Charles always gives people who have wronged him a shot at redemption, he has one sibling and she has three or four, where he despised Blaise Parton and was neutral about Miranda Patrick, she spent months with both under her thumb. Charles is a dog person and Nelson is a cat person. Nelson is a fan of whereas Charles is indifferent about Swift. In terms of physical similarities, they have few of them. However, they both have fair skin with the slightest dark connotation to it (Charles because he's an eighth Native American and Valiera for unknown reasons), brown hair, and a slender build and tight stomach. Charles' attire seems to be much more formal than hers, though both of them are very modest. There is also evidence that the time Charles spent under Nelson's energy has improved him as a character. Throughout the war, Charles became more trusting of his instincts, became less afraid of dogs, learned the value of social media and, perhaps most importantly, of his friends in general. He has also become more confident about admitting that he likes the Hannah Montana television series. Charles has also thanked her for giving him the strength he needed to detach from a family that wasn't helping him. Luke Norris ]] Charles and Luke Norris met at some point prior to 2011, but certainly after 2006, outside a restaurant. When they first met, Norris fell immediately in love, though Charles merely treated him cordially. During their second encounter, Norris kept trying to talk to Charles, which he told him was “touching, but annoying”, though he seemed to agree with most of Luke's statements. The two began bonding when they encountered each other again in the hallway, when he comforted him about Valiera Nelson switching schools. Charles may have used the relationship as an attempt to “move on” from Nelson though this is unproven. They conversed on YouTube and Instagram almost every day. They also did outdoor activities such as fishing. When Luke was injured, Charles brought him food and comforted him in the hospital, making him extremely grateful. The two kissed on the first day of school and did pretty much everything together. The first fallout they had was when Luke got Charles to hang out with him at the playground and leave the house and Charles regretted agreeing to come without informing his parents (though ironically he probably just hated being caught for it). Despite hanging out continuously in the first two months of the year, Charles' feelings for Luke were confused because of his continuing grief over Valiera's alienation and Luke's discomfort with discussing it. Luke, on the other hand, also became jealous of Charles' friendship with Rose Johannson, convinced they had feelings for each-other, and in a moment of weakness and insecurity, ditched him in October. Luke was unimpressed with his attitude and had grown angry at him. Charles found this very confusing and tried to talk to him, to no avail. After that, their relationship simply “fell apart”. However, by December, any negative feelings on Luke's part seemed to have vanished, as they talked on occasion and he finally spoke to him on Instagram again and asked about Valiera Nelson and whether it was still his ambition to compete in an English competition when chances such as those arose. Both of them noted how much they had both matured throughout the last two years and fondly acknowledged each other. Luke also rescued him during the Infiltration of GT-3 Base. In 2016, Charles was also extremely grateful to Luke for helping him make his peace with Valiera. Even with Valiera, Charles spent a lot of time thinking about him. The two flew together with Valiera during the Battle at the Cave of the Gargoyle. |-| Friends= Rose Johannson ]] Rose Johannson was a friend of Luke Norris who Charles met in 2012 at the beginning of the year. He found Rose to be very strange, but very likable. He also got her phone number. However, after she failed to meet up with him twice and she never compensated him for buying her candy, he began to distrust her. She began ignoring him afterwards, expressing quiet annoyance when they saw each other. Believing she was a threat to his self-esteem, he blocked her on Instagram as well as Facebook, though he later found this a shallow act and unblocked her. Despite this, in spite of getting off to a bad start, she could tell Charles was friendly to her. Charles learned this from Carl and it stunned him. This is even more surprising because she was angry with most of her friends at the time, including Carl. The two hung out afterwards, which both of them greatly enjoyed, and they promised they would try harder to show each other loyalty. Charles was very concerned when he learned she was sick, and Rose admitted she would find it comforting for him to be around during such a time. Upon learning that Rose supplied cocaine, Leah ultimately forced a restraining order between the two, which only increased Charles' already seething hatred for his own mother. Despite this, the two were reunited in March along with Valiera Nelson and Crystal. However, it is unclear if Charles still had any contact with her in the 2030s. Nicholas Nelson ]] While he had known of his existence for months, Charles first met Valiera's younger brother Nicholas Nelson outside the Main Office at Tower Placement. The two had a far more explicit meeting when Nick (Charles' brother) picked him up. Charles considered him to be "interesting", though he may have simply been interested in getting closer to Valiera, this is unproven, though unlikely, as he found it unwise to ever mention Valiera to him directly. Christina ]] Karen ]] Steven Thompson , leader of the Armies of Organa]] Charles had a cordial relationship with Steven Thompson. He initially was neutral about him, though he was intrigued by and disapproving of his feelings for the gothic and cunning Valiera Nelson. At one point, he warned him that if he gave someone false hope, they would kill him (which turned out to be a legitimate claim). However, their relationship became closer during the Second School War, after Steven realized just how badly he had misjudged Charles, mistaking his ambition for delusions of grandeur. He was also stunned because after the search for Nelson ended, Charles was "not miserable and broken, but as strong as Madakoran armor". Steven felt that he would not be able to fight Natalia Thornton, so he asked Thompson for help. It is rumored, though unconfirmed, that Charles only wanted Nelson's approval so she would commit herself to the Armies of Organa. Consequentially, a delegation was sent to question Steven. During the Battle of Orem, Charles saved the life of Steven and many others by distracting Natalia along with Luke Norris, and Steven acknowledged that he owed Charles a debt for his risk. Carl Alex ]] Carl Alex was a close friend to Charles. He was "mildly upset" when he learned that Carl ran away from home. Charles held a deep sense of respect for him. He held a deep sense of respect for him and was overjoyed when he returned to Tower Placement in one piece. He also trusted Carl, believing he would never physically attack him when questioned about it. In an extremely calculated decision, he unblocked Carl solely because he thought Valiera might know if he didn't, even though Rose desperately did not want him to and his mother had told him not to. He even defended him to Leah, considering Carl to be more supportive and less likely to hurt him. Leah ultimately forced a restraining order between the two, which only increased Charles' already seething hatred for his own mother. Jamie Thompson Charles initially had a poor relationship with Jamie Thompson, as he frequently insulted and teased her, making her cry. However, after he let her join his posse, Charles soon realized how badly he had misjudged her and apologized. When Jamie returned to Tower Placement, Charles began treating her much better. The two enjoyed walking each other to class and joking with each other about needing to get a life. Charles was also pleased that Jamie seemed to know Valiera Nelson rather well. Josh Hogan Charles briefly made Josh Hogan's acquaintance during the Second School War. The two got along almost immediately and realized they were similar in a lot of ways, whilst being different in many others. Charles was surprised that Josh knew Valiera Nelson so well, who in turn was surprised that Charles had a crush on her to begin with. Josh said they had a lot in common and that he would advise him to simply and calmly ask her out, that is if she wasn't dating Miranda Patrick. He also noted that Charles had a way of bonding with people very quickly, needing very little time to develop a strong opinion of an individual. Summer Petersen ]] Although they were likely never more than accomplices, Charles respected Summer Petersen, due to her intelligence and lack of tolerance for people's "bullcrap". He bravely risked his life to protect her cover from being blown during the Battle of GT-2 Base, though this was mainly to do his part in rescuing the members of the Decemahead. He also said she was definitely adorable when Steven, slightly entranced, asked Charles this. Adam Whitman Charles was on friendly terms with Adam Whitman. The latter was open to the idea of Charles visiting him. Charles admired Adam for getting along with people so easily and for being so good at fishing. He also called Adam "complex". |-| Enemies= Miranda Patrick , his "rival"]] Initially, Charles was very neutral about Miranda Patrick as a person. On the other hand, because she was Valiera's Lesbian girlfriend, Charles saw her as the reason Valiera shut out everyone else in her life and despised Miranda for the effect that bore on both him and Valiera. While he saw her in at least two dozen photos throughout the summer of 2012, he did not meet her in person until the beginning of the school year. He recognized her at once, leaving her confused. When he encountered her again, she gave him the middle finger, heavily implying that Nelson had told her that Charles was a horrible person (which would have required some lying or references to what happened nearly half a year before). Still, they shared one class, General Financial Lit, albeit briefly. Although they had very little contact throughout the school year, Miranda antagonized Charles when he invited Valiera to the dance of November, perhaps out of being overprotective and thinking he wanted Valiera for himself, despite making it obvious they would have only gone as friends. Charles was also aware that Rose hated her for deceiving Valiera, making him agree with Rose that Miranda was asking for a punch to the face. He was very pleased when she dumped Val, though he decided he needed time to think to make the right move. Blaise Parton , Charles' bitter enemy.]] Charles had, from the start, an intense rivalry with Blaise Parton. He first met him by sheer chance when he stole his backpack, prompting Charles to fight him for it. This, coupled with Charles' attraction to Blaise's girlfriend Valiera, led Blaise to (secretly) fear him. While he preferred to avoid Blaise altogether, Charles refused to be intimidated by the bully. He was pleased when Blaise was expelled; the two have had no contact since. Charles would later mention him as the embodiment of "stupid evil". Emily Watson ]] Charles saw Emily Watson as the embodiment of evil and despised her for the threat she posed to his friends, especially when he learned she had tried to kill Luke Norris and had seemingly not changed at all since then. He despised her even more when his reputation began to suffer as a result of the Boy Trap Emily constructed, which is what led him to join the Armies of Organa, even though he was not truly loyal to the organization and found them to be shallow, just not as shallow as the Watson-led Girl-Team. Lauren Nelson Charles only ever once interacted with Lauren, on the occasion that he met her in October 2012 when he met the entire family minus Chris, her second-youngest. He already knew she was abusive because Valiera had told his boyfriend Luke, and he greeted her cordially despite resisting an urge to glare at her. However, it is clear that Charles knew of her mixed relationship with her own family and how she had abused Valiera for being different, in temperament, from the rest of her family, inducing the young woman's worst personality traits, and passionately agreeing with Luke Norris referring to her being raised to easily mistake a friend such as himself for a master manipulator. Due to this, Charles despised her, as he wanted Valiera to stop being tormented, and believed that Lauren "never gave a maggot's burp about her". He seemed pleased when Valiera moved in with Miranda and Will, as he said Lauren did not deserve her presence when he was the one who cared. He agreed with Luke that the loss of her one-of-a-kind daughter was her reward. Charles feared that Valiera would regret leaving Lauren despite her abuse and "would never stop needing her, at least not in her mind". Therefore, he was pleased when he learned that Valiera unanimously agreed with him that her mother was in the past where she belonged, something Charles believed as inevitable for his parents as he did not think highly of his own mother. |-| Others= Carrie Charles' relationship with Carrie was incredibly rocky. He met her when she came over for band practice with her family. The two had a shaky relationship because Carrie hated his guts, merely because she thought his “energy brushed the wrong way”, but they were still capable of conversing civilly. Flummoxed and bemused by this, Charles maintained his composure and did the best he could to avoid her. And in spite of their dislike, they never actually did anything to hurt each other and rarely spoke with each other. When Charles hurt her and later apologized, her reaction was vicious. However, the two eventually mended their relationship. Will Ostler Charles and Will Ostler did not like each other at all. They first crossed paths when he disrespected Charles just for thinking he was not related to Valiera (an understandable confusion). He resented him in spite of barely knowing him, mistakenly believing Charles was conspiring against Valiera and Luke Norris was helping. Valiera continually complained to him about Charles, and it is possible Miranda Patrick has done likewise. Apparently, Charles and Will mended their relationship by May 23, 2013. The two went swimming with Valiera. Neil Charles' relationship with Neil is unknown, the latter formally acknowledged Charles when he entered a room in 2013, he smiled back. |-| Notes and references= Charles